Tag: NYCHA

According to a New York Daily News article, the New York City Housing Authority erroneously sent 1,424 residents a letter threatening “termination of tenancy.” NYCHA officials have reportedly chalked-up the letters mistakenly sent to residents as being a “computer glitch.”

The letters, understandably, sent terror through residents who feared their housing was in jeopardy. One NYCHA tenant is quoted by the NY Daily News as saying: “The wording of the letter is so threatening. They should not do this. They don’t know how this emotionally kills a person. I did not sleep at all…My blood sugar was very high in the morning.”

To add insult to injury, the residents received the letter close to Election Day, and were unable to communicate with NYCHA’s management offices due to the offices being closed for the holiday.

Hopefully NYCHA is taking steps to right their wrong. Hopefully, those steps will exceed a pat apology.

The following poignant story is from a Brooklyn resident, Angela Graham. It was printed in the New York Daily News in the column “Voice of the People,” on Wednesday, August 17, 2016.

“I’ve been on the NYCHA Section 8 waiting list for eight years. On June 14, I finally received a voucher. I’ve been homeless since June 10, after we were all put out into the street by new owners who didn’t offer us one penny to move. There were so many violations our building was unlivable.

All landlords- and I mean all- don’t take Section 8 and don’t want it. Your own city makes you homeless. I believe they know nobody is taking it but they will not offer you public housing because they’re busy throwing people out there, too.

I saw that it’s a law that a landlord must not discriminate against people with government rent subsidies. My voucher is only for up to $1,425 rent, and guess what, people are only renting rooms at that price, and guess what, Section 8 isn’t paying for you to sleep in a room. So what am I to do?

This system was set up to fail. They’re running people out of their homes and have the nerve to demand you have income of 40 times the rent. Who the hell do they think we are Donald Trump? They price you out and use the famous words “Go down South.” What makes you think I have family down South?

It’s sad that NYCHA issues the vouchers knowing we will not find housing, so will lose the voucher and continue to live in the streets.”

New York City has sold a percentage of its ownership in the city’s public housing to private developers. According to The Wall Street Journal, the city has sold a 50% stake in almost 900 NYCHA apartments to L + M Development Partners Inc. and BFC Partner. The sale reportedly garnered $150 million in immediate revenue.

The deal is said to still be “open,” and subject to further stipulations and negotiations. According to The Gothamist, NYC will receive an additional $100 million from the sale over the next 15 years, and $100 million in renovations.

The kicker is that the private developers are allegedly not only receiving tax credits, but they will also be able to receive the difference between the NYCHA rent and the market-rate from the federal government. Also, the developers will reportedly have the option of turning their purchased NYCHA apartments into market-rate apartments in 30 years.

The April 2016 Social Indicators Report, which is created by the Mayor’s Office of Operations for the City of New York, states the following regarding homeless shelter residents’ placement in public housing: “In 2016 and continuing for the next five years, NYCHA will set aside an additional 750 public housing units for homeless families coming out of DHS shelters. Combined with the NYCHA’s existing commitment to place 750 homeless families in public housing, NYCHA will place 1,500 homeless families into public housing each year, on top of the approximately 1,000 families NYCHA places each year that are at risk of homelessness.”

According to the Coalition for the Homeless, in 2014, the average yearly cost of sheltering a homeless adult in a NYC homeless shelter was $28,609. In the same year, the average yearly cost of sheltering a homeless family in a NYC homeless shelter was $37,047. Compare these figures to the statistic that the average yearly rent for a unit in New York City public housing was $5,568 in 2015. Now, ask yourself the reasonable questions that arise from reading the aforementioned statistics.

According to the NextGeneration NYCHA study, NYCHA serves 1 out of 14 New Yorkers, housing a total of more than 607,000 people. The study states that this population exceeds the populations of Miami, Los Vegas, and Atlanta.